Stunning and/or killing of poultry is a matter that is daily practiced in slaughter-houses for poultry. EP-B-1 583 426 for instance teaches a method and device which may be employed in a slaughterhouse to make a stream of living poultry in the slaughter line substantially uniform.
The words ‘living poultry’ as used in EP-B-1 583 426 are to be understood as meaning poultry which is in the normal state of consciousness, but also poultry which has been stunned in a customary way in the slaughterhouse before, during, or after unloading. Different levels of stunning are possible, and the stunning may be reversible or irreversible.
The words ‘living poultry’ according to said document are also to be understood as meaning poultry which is still covered with feathers and has not yet been plucked. This means that, according to EP-B-1 583 426, poultry which is irreversibly stunned (or killed) is deemed to qualify as ‘living poultry.” In the same sense the instant application at least concerns a processing line for living poultry which is, after stunning and/or killing, still covered with feathers and has not yet been plucked.